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Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
Healey opened the door to tweaking the ‘millionaires tax.' Now what?
Jim Stergios — executive director of the right-leaning Pioneer Institute that opposed the millionaires tax — was thisclose to issuing a press release praising Healey. Then reality set in. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The next day the governor — who as a then-candidate supported the Fair Share Amendment ballot initiative that created the millionaires tax — clarified her thoughts, telling Advertisement Now if you were in the audience, as I was, Healey came across as someone who has been getting an earful from business leaders about the impact of the tax — hearing that entrepreneurs might not want to start their businesses here, companies are having a hard time recruiting senior executives, and wealthy individuals are uprooting to Florida, New Hampshire, and other states without income taxes. Advertisement And while Healey did not give a full-throttled rejection of the millionaires tax, she was doing what any good leader should do: Listen, take notes, and review what's not working. 'I'm going to look at ways to lower costs, including what other tax reforms are necessary,' she said. 'I want Massachusetts to be a place where people are attracted to come and grow, and make money and succeed and do well. So I think we need to be open to that, to be open to looking at what we need to do within our existing tax regime that will make us more conducive to that.' Hundreds of attendees gathered both in-person and online for the Globe Tech Innovation Summit in Boston last week. Michael Manning Photography Anyone who has followed the millionaires tax debate knows that, for the business community, this is what counts as a victory, after And during the seven-year push to get the millionaires tax on the ballot, its pros and cons have been well litigated, both in court and in the court of public opinion. Voters approved the tax because they want better schools and a functioning T, and now that billions of dollars in new tax money is flowing, it's hard to see Beacon Hill giving it up. Nothing gives But what the opposition is saying now is that an idea that was conceived before the pandemic feels more ill-conceived today. 'We need to recognize that the millionaires tax was a concept that was put forward in far different economic time,' said Jay Ash, CEO of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership, whose business group opposed the tax. 'COVID made the world much smaller ... now everyone can operate from anywhere.' Advertisement Employees and companies have choices they may not have a few years ago. Between the high cost of doing business and a I don't see business leaders marching in the streets demanding a repeal of the millionaires tax. They're smarter than that. Rather, they're playing the long game: Here's Had the Massachusetts private sector created 250,000 jobs during that period like North Carolina did, we would have generated an additional $1.3 billion in state income and sales tax revenue, according to Pioneer Institute analysis. John T. C. Lee, CEO of MKS Inc. and chair of the Massachusetts High Technology Council, says he knows a few people who've moved away to avoid the millionaires tax. He's also seen the surtax hurt recruiting, with a couple of job candidates deciding not to work at MKS, an Andover company that supplies equipment and components to computer chip makers. Advertisement 'Whether it's revisiting, repealing, whatever, I think it is worth looking at the data,' said Lee. 'The best thing is that we look at the facts, and the facts steer us towards one direction or another.' The Fair Share Amendment ballot initiative created the millionaires tax. 52 percent of voters approved the tax by a clear margin in 2022. Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff Data will be key, and so far it's all too early to weigh the benefits of the millionaires tax against the costs, Meanwhile, any effort to repeal the tax would take years, requiring an amendment to the state constitution and votes by two successive Legislatures, followed by a citizen ballot question. And it would clearly draw a fight from powerful labor groups, who outspent the business community the first time around. Another option: lower the base income tax rate for everyone to something below 5 percent. That'd be a tough sell to Beacon Hill because income taxes are the primary source of revenue for the state budget. The bottom line: Repealing the millionaires tax isn't on the table yet, but make no mistake the push to chip away at it has already begun. Shirley Leung is a Business columnist and host of the Globe Opinion podcast 'Say More with Shirley Leung.' Find the podcast on , , and . Follow her on Threads Advertisement Shirley Leung is a Business columnist. She can be reached at
Boston Globe
30-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Recent bad rap aside, the millionaires tax is making an impact
After reading Carine Hajjar's May 23 opinion piece, Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up Just as learning never really ends, public policy can always grow and improve. While Hajjar identifies areas where such policy can be refined, it would be a disservice to overlook the amazing opportunities created by these dollars. Thank you, Massachusetts, for investing in residents like me. My classmates and I promise to make that investment worthwhile. Advertisement Mike McDougal Haverhill Fair Share funds have been a boon to public higher ed In response to Carine Hajjar's opinion piece regarding the Fair Share Amendment, it's important to also highlight the transformative impact this funding is having on public higher education in Massachusetts. The House's fiscal 2025 supplemental budget includes a $20 million investment in higher education, with $10 million allocated to the University of Massachusetts for its endowment matching program. This initiative provides a $1 state match for every $2 in private contributions to the school and has already created or supported 700 scholarship funds worth $135 million, which distribute $4.6 million in student aid annually. Advertisement The Senate's proposal of $125 million in capital support would provide much-needed state funding for deferred maintenance, and it aligns with Governor Maura Healey's visionary BRIGHT Act, which would modernize and improve sustainability on public campuses. A notable Senate earmark is the $10 million designated for a nursing simulation lab at UMass Amherst. This facility would double the enrollment capacity for the Amherst campus's nursing program, helping to address the statewide health care workforce shortage. The UMass system educates 73,000 students annually and is celebrating 19,000 new graduates entering the workforce, predominantly in Massachusetts. These strategic investments fulfill the promises made when voters approved the Fair Share Amendment and ensure a robust future for public higher education and the Commonwealth's economy. Christopher Dunn Associate vice chancellor for government relations UMass Amherst
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Massachusetts millionaires tax is funding these public schools
EAST LONGMEADOW, Mass. (WWLP) – Over $1.3 billion in revenues from the Fair Share Amendment was secured to provide funding for public education and transportation across Massachusetts. The Fair Share Amendment, better known as the millionaires tax, was signed into law in 2022 and imposes a surtax on individual incomes that exceed $1 million. This year's budget included a $1.33 billion statewide package funded through revenues from the Fair Share Amendment. Senate working 'around the clock' on spending plans $248 million for special education reimbursements $100 million to expand technical education programs $50 million for capital improvements at regional transit authorities $25 million for micro-transit and 'Last Mile' transportation solutions for rural communities $82.5 million in Chapter 90 road funding allocated by road mileage, benefiting rural municipalities $175 million for deferred maintenance at public higher education institutions $25 million for K–3 literacy education $10 million for English Language Learner service expansions $50 million to help school districts manage construction cost overruns due to inflation and tariffs Massachusetts Senator Jacob Oliveira, who represents Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester, announced that more than $750,000 of the Fair Share Amendment funding is allocated to public schools across his district. 'As a former School Committee member and a proud product of public education, I know firsthand the immense benefits to individuals and the region when we have the same access to opportunity as other areas of the Commonwealth. 'That means delivering both the funding and the infrastructure that our local schools and communities need. I'm proud to have helped to bring meaningful, regionally equitable investments home,' Senator Oliveira said. In a news release from Senator Oliveira, the following school districts are earmarked in the bill however, the final budget will be determined through negotiations between the House and Senate. $28,500 to Ludlow Public Schools for classroom technology upgrades $150,000 to East Longmeadow High School for gymnasium bleacher replacement $75,000 to Granby Public Schools to expand their Information Technology Pathway program $100,000 to Belcher School in Chicopee for critical HVAC system upgrades $30,000 to Old Mill Pond Elementary School in Palmer for accessible playground improvements $26,000 to Palmer High School for gymnasium upgrades $80,000 to South Hadley Public Schools for district-wide gym improvements $92,500 to the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District for technology upgrades $93,000 to Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School to upgrade its horticultural vocational program $75,000 to Longmeadow Public Schools to modernize school security systems 'We are delivering on the promise of the Fair Share Amendment,' Oliveira said. 'This isn't just about a number on a spreadsheet—it's about real outcomes for our kids, for our educators, and for our regional economy. It's about making sure students from Palmer to South Hadley have the same high-quality facilities, programs, and support as anywhere else in the Commonwealth.' WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mass. Republicans assail $25M for parking garage pet project in House speaker's district
Massachusetts Republicans teed off on the top Democrat in the state House on Wednesday for slipping $25 million for a parking garage in his district that critics have denounced as the ultimate 'power play.' State House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano, D-3rd Norfolk, successfully inserted the language into a bill last month that doled out $1.3 billion in surplus cash from the state's so-called 'Millionaire's Tax.' It gave a leg up to the city of Quincy, which is building a 500-spot parking garage for a new Beth Israel Deaconess-run medical facility, according to The Boston Globe, which was the first to report the news. Under state law, money from the Millionaire's Tax, formally known as the 'Fair Share Amendment,' is intended to support education- and transportation-related programs. The chamber allocated $353.5 million for education and $828 million, most of it for the MBTA, for transportation. Critics told the Globe that the language Mariano inserted into the bill stretched the intent of the law., Mariano's actions "siphon money from roads and bridges," and 'back toward the political donors who have padded his campaign account, John Milligan, the executive director of the state Republican Party, said in a statement. "The migrant shelter crisis continues to bleed money from our budget while Massachusetts is ranked the second-most expensive state for families, but State House leadership is still managing to use taxpayer dollars to take care of the friends who have long taken care of them,' Milligan said in an email. In a statement to the Globe, Mariano defended the move, saying the money would pay for an 'essential component' of the new health care facility. 'Providing support for key transportation infrastructure projects, especially projects that are related to the health and well-being of our residents, is one of the most fundamental ways that state government can better the lives of the people that it serves,' Mariano said, according to the newspaper. Quincy has gone all-in on the project, investing $157 million to build a pair of parking garages in Quincy Center, according to the local Patriot-Ledger newspaper. More political news Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Funding for the T could derail Mass. budget debate. Here's how
Good Monday morning, everyone. Just as straphangers on the MBTA's Red Line thought they were done with a month's worth of delays and dreaded 'shuttle trains,' it looks like a debate over funding for the T could snag the debate over this year's state budget. How, you ask? Excellent question. The short answer: As is so often the case, the House and Senate, both controlled by Democrats, have very different visions for how to spend roughly $1.3 billion in 'Millionaire's Tax' revenue, which funds transportation and education programs. Now, an argument over how to spend $1.3 billion is, as problems go, a nice one to have. But it could throw debate over the state's annual spending blueprint (which has a price tag of around $61 billion to $62 billion) into a slow zone that only a Red Line rider could fully appreciate. A proposal advanced by Senate Democrats would steer $370 million in Millionaire's Tax revenue to the MBTA. That's far less than the $793 million that a plan backed by House Democrats would send to the T. Read More: So are millionaires really fleeing Mass.? A new report says they're staying — and paying All told, the $1.28 billion supplemental budget that Senate Democrats rolled out last week would set aside $613 million for education and $670 million for transportation and infrastructure, Senate leadership said in an email. The House's version, meanwhile, channels $353 million to education programs and $828 million to transportation and infrastructure spending, State House News Service reported. As a refresher, voters approved the levy, formally known as 'The Fair Share Amendment,' as a statewide referendum in 2022. It hits anyone making over $1 million a year with an extra 4% income tax levy. Read More: Mass. 'Millionaire's Tax' is a year old. Where it's helped, hurt | Analysis The more even split in the Senate plan appears to reflect concerns by lawmakers from outside the I-495 corridor that the perennially cash-strapped and maintenance-challenged T was benefiting at the expense of regional transit agencies elsewhere in the state. 'It is always our goal, but we do not count down to the pennies, to try to equally invest the money in both education and transportation,' Senate Ways & Means Committee Chairperson Rodrigues, D-1st Bristol/Plymouth, told reporters last week, according to State House News Service. State Sen. Joanne M. Comerford, the Senate panel's vice chairperson, said the money will come in particularly handy with federal funding in ... ahhh ... flux. 'My constituents in western Massachusetts canvassed, advocated, and then voted overwhelmingly to pass the Fair Share Amendment,' Comerford, D-Hampshire/Franklin/Worcester, said in a statement. 'It is especially heartening now, amid blistering federal spending cuts, to have funds to invest equitably in education and transportation in the commonwealth.' On the other side of the State House, House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano, D-3rd Norfolk, said last month that the lower chamber's big spend on transportation reflects its goal of 'ensuring that every Massachusetts resident has access to a safe and reliable public transportation system.' House Ways and Means Committee Chairperson Aaron Michlewitz, D-3rd Suffolk, offered a similar sentiment, observing that the Millioniare's Tax cash is a 'unique opportunity for us to better strength[en] the commonwealth.' The debate over how to spend the windfall from the state's super-wealthy (again, a nice problem to have) will take place alongside the debate over the general fund budget for the new fiscal year that starts July 1, according to published reports. Democratic Gov. Maura Healey has already filed her $62 billion version of the spending blueprint. The House proposes a smidge less at $61.4 billion. The Senate is expected to unveil its budget proposal this week. As a matter of law and practice, the state is supposed to have a new budget in place by 12:01 a.m. on July 1. As a matter of actual practice, they've overshot the deadline for years. And it looks like this year may be no different. Rodriques, balancing optimism against hard-fought experience, said lawmakers will try for an on-time budget this year, State House News Service reported. 'It's always our goal, yes,' he said. Some big numbers last week for a pair of pols looking to defeat entrenched incumbents. For Boston mayoral candidate Josh Kraft, that big number was 3,000. That's how many signatures the first-time pol needed to collect to be certified to appear on this fall's ballot. After a day of canvassing in neighborhoods across the city on Thursday, Kraft said his camp more than doubled up, collecting 6,500 signatures for the fall ballot. 'I am grateful to our team of volunteers that collected 6,500 signatures ... as it shows the strong support and momentum for my candidacy and our campaign,' Kraft, who's challenging incumbent mayor Michelle Wu, said in a statement. Wu's campaign said Friday that it's so far turned in more than 6,700 signatures from residents in every neighborhood in the city. 'We're thrilled by the outpouring of support from residents across every neighborhood of Boston. It's a reflection of the momentum behind Mayor Wu's leadership and focus on making Boston a home for everyone,' a spokesperson told MassLive. For Republican gubernatorial hopeful Mike Kennealy, it was $130,000 (and some change). That's how much the former Baker administration official said he raised in the first three weeks of his campaign for the Corner Office. The GOP hopeful added that he's already committed to spending $2 million of his own money in his bid to unseat Healey, who said in February, that she's running for a second term. Healey was sitting on nearly $2.9 million in her campaign account as of late last week, state filings showed. The top Democrat in the state Senate, Senate President Karen E. Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk, has confirmed that she plans to seek reelection in 2026, according to NBC-10 in Boston, which snagged the scooplet last week, as part of a broader conversation with the MetroWest lawmaker. 'The thing about the economy is that when people get uncertain, they stop buying things, and if they're a business, they stop hiring people. And then those decisions start becoming self-fulfilling, right? Then you start to tip into a recession because consumers stop buying, some businesses stop being able to sell [things], [and] some businesses stop hiring. And then, because they stop hiring, people get nervous ... And this is how you start to spiral down.' U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-4th District, fresh off meetings with constituents, business leaders, financiers and others, sums up their mood on President Donald Trump's economic policies. 'It's what they deserve': Trump will move to strip Harvard's tax-exempt status Mass. Rep. Auchincloss on how Harvard can 'Punch the bully in the nose' | John L. Micek 17 'crucial' AmeriCorps programs in Mass. on the chopping block amid DOGE cuts Mass. Gov. Healey: Trump's fight with Harvard isn't about protecting student safety How a Mass. group is fighting Trump cutting assistance for legal green card holders Boston Mayor Wu leads Josh Kraft in new poll, but pressure points arise Do you know a Massachusetts Republican who's done something particularly noteworthy or helped to make their corner of creation a better place? If so, the Massachusetts Republican Party wants to hear from you. Nominations are officially open for the 2025 Lincoln-Reagan Award, which, as the name suggests, honors the legacy of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. 'Do you know a standout Republican who has made a powerful impact in your community or across our state?' the state party said in an email. 'It could be an elected official who's led with integrity, a grassroots warrior who never backs down, or an activist whose passion has inspired the next generation. Whether they're in the trenches or behind the scenes, we want to hear about them,' the party continued. This year's event takes place on Thursday, May 29, at the Lenox Hotel in Boston. Organizers promise more details to come on that score. You can submit your suggestions right here. You saw her in 'Wicked' and you loved her. So now's your chance to catch actor/singer Cynthia Erivo in Massachusetts. She takes the stage at Symphony Hall in Boston on May 8 (tickets and more information here). From 2021, before mega-stardom, here's the very lovely 'Alive.' Okay, so granted, this is happening across the pond in the United Kingdom. And it's got a bit of the nanny state about it. But if you've ever spent time on public transportation and found yourself forced to listen to the chaotic symphony that is speakerphones turned to full blast, then you might understand the appeal. From GQ's UK edition: If there was any platform on which the Lib Dems could sweep into power, it's this: the party have proposed a ban on playing music and videos out loud on public transport. Any 'headphone dodgers' (their phrase) who don't comply would be fined a maximum of £1,000. You or I could probably think of far worse punishments we wish would befall those who share the audio of their TikTok algorithm or their favourite Diary of a CEO episode with an entire train or tube carriage. Crush their phones under the wheels of said train or tube? Revive the medieval stocks for repeat offenders? There probably isn't a single political policy more popular in Britain than a pitiless clampdown on all this: a YouGov poll last year found that 86% of British adults 'consider using speakerphones in shared environments inappropriate'. The piece does raise the very real issue of enforcement. And it asserts, sensibly, that sometimes, it's as simple as asking someone to turn down the volume. Best of luck if you try this one on your own. Let me know how it goes. That's it for today. As always, tips, comments and questions can be sent to jmicek@ Have a good week, friends. Mass. Rep. Auchincloss on how Harvard can 'Punch the bully in the nose' | John L. Micek Trump at 100 Days: In Mass., protests, pushback and all the lawsuits | John L. Micek Mass. gave the U.S. its Constitution. Why it matters more than ever| Bay State Briefing Read the original article on MassLive. Read the original article on MassLive. Read the original article on MassLive. Read the original article on MassLive. 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